Officials from customs offices across Korea meet at the government complex in Daejeon, in this photo provided by the Korea Customs Service, Feb. 18. Yonhap
Korea's customs agency said Wednesday it busted 300 cases of crimes related to foreign exchange (FX) transactions worth some 2.6 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in 2024.
The number of such crimes jumped 52 percent last year from 198 cases tallied a year earlier, and the combined value of the cases was 34 percent higher than that of 2023 cases, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS).
By type, the agency cracked down on 2.03 trillion won worth of cases of illegal foreign exchange transactions, 436.1 billion won worth of cases of price manipulation of export and import goods, and 195.7 billion won of money laundering and asset flight cases.
To prevent such crimes, the agency held a meeting Tuesday with officials from customs offices across the nation to discuss response measures.
In the meeting, the agency called for stronger inspection of FX transactions and efforts to crack down on FX crimes related to fast-evolving virtual assets. (Yonhap)